This invention relates to improved impact resistant vinyl chloride polymer compositions. More specifically, this invention relates to impact resistant compositions of hydrocarbon rubber impact modifiers and polyvinyl chloride compatibilized with randomly chlorinated polyethylene.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is widely used in both its rigid and flexible forms in such applications as films, siding, sheets, pipe and tubing. Because rigid PVC is a hard, brittle thermoplastic polymer, it is often mixed with a modifier to form a composition that is less prone to failure on impact. Known PVC modifiers include polyacrylic resins, butadiene-containing polymers such as methacrylate butadiene styrene terpolymers (MBS), and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) resins. For example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,006,889 and 3,209,055 the use of a broad range of chlorinated and chlorosulfonated polyethylenes in blends with PVC is disclosed. These modifiers form small rubbery microdomains when mixed in PVC compositions that improve the impact resistance of these compositions.
Hydrocarbon rubbers such as ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers have advantages over the aforementioned modifiers in that they are low density, have excellent stability at PVC processing temperatures (e.g. 170-210xc2x0 C.) and are UV resistant. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,703 Betso et al. teach the use of linear ethylene/alpha-olefins to improve impact performance of filled thermoplastic compositions, including polyvinyl chlorides. However, the use of these hydrocarbon rubbers as impact modifiers for rigid PVC applications has been hampered by the fact that the small rubbery microdomains have not formed in the size range for effective impact modification when the hydrocarbon rubbers are mixed in PVC compounds.
More recently, impact modifiers that are mixtures containing chlorinated polyethylenes and other polymers have been disclosed. As an example, Aono et al., in Japanese Published Patent Application No. 7-11085, disclose the use of a mixture of a chlorinated polyethylene prepared from a polyethylene of molecular weight 50,000 to 400,000 and AES resin (acrylonitrile-EPDM-styrene), optionally in combination with other polymers, as an impact modifier for PVC. Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,406 Cinadr et al. teach that blocky chlorinated polyethylenes can be used to compatibilize hydrocarbon rubber and PVC to give a PVC composition with improved impact resistance. The Cinadr patent also teaches that randomly chlorinated polyethylenes, such as Tyrin(copyright) chlorinated polyethylene, are ineffective as compatibilizers due to poor interfacial adhesion between the PVC and hydrocarbon rubber. Blocky chlorinated polyethylenes have regions of high chlorine concentration as well as regions of very low chlorine concentration. However, blocky chlorinated polyethylenes have poor thermal stability at PVC processing temperatures, which increases the possibility of degradation during PVC processing. Blocky chlorinated polyethylenes are also time consuming to manufacture since the chlorination reactions must take place at temperatures which retain the crystallinity of the polyethylene, thereby slowing the reaction rates down.
Surprisingly, and in contrast to what has been suggested in the Cinadr patent, we have found that randomly chlorinated polyethylenes, such as Tyrin(copyright), can be used to compatibilize blends of vinyl chloride polymers and hydrocarbon rubber and that their mixture with hydrocarbon rubbers improves the impact resistance of PVC compositions. We have also found that randomly chlorinated polyethylenes are effective compatibilizers for hydrocarbon rubbers at lower levels in PVC-hydrocarbon rubber compositions than what has been demonstrated in the prior art using blocky chlorinated polyethylenes. We have also found that with some PVC compositions there is a synergistic effect between components used as fillers in PVC compositions, such as calcium carbonate, and the hydrocarbon rubber used as the impact modifier, where the impact strength of the composition is improved as the concentration of filler in the composition is increased. These highly filled PVC compositions are economical and advantageous for their improved impact resistance.
The present invention is specifically directed to improved polyvinyl chloride compositions having excellent impact strength. In particular, the impact resistant composition comprises a) a vinyl chloride polymer, b) at least one ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer, said copolymer having a density of 0.858 to 0.91 g/cc and having a melt index from an I10 value of 0.1 to an I2 value of 10, and c) at least one randomly chlorinated olefin polymer having a chlorine content of from 20-40 percent by weight, the feedstock for said chlorinated olefin polymer having a melt index from an I10 value of 0.1 to an I2 value of 10. Optionally, these impact resistant polyvinyl chloride compositions may have inorganic filler levels from 5 to 50 parts per hundred parts of the polyvinyl chloride polymer.
The impact resistant compositions of the present invention comprise a vinyl chloride polymer, a hydrocarbon rubber, and a randomly chlorinated olefin polymer both having specific chemical composition and physical properties. Another aspect of the current invention additionally comprises an inorganic filler in the impact resistant compositions.
The vinyl chloride polymer component is a solid, high molecular weight polymer that may be a polyvinyl chloride homopolymer or a copolymer of vinyl chloride having copolymerized units of one or more additional comonomers. When present, such comonomers will account for up to 20 weight percent of the copolymer, preferably from 1-5 weight percent of the copolymer. Examples of suitable comonomers include C2-C6 olefins, for example ethylene and propylene; vinyl esters of straight chain or branched C2-C4 carboxylic acids, such as vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, and vinyl 2-ethyl hexanoate; vinyl halides, for example vinyl fluoride, vinylidene fluoride or vinylidene chloride; vinyl ethers, such as vinyl methyl ether and butyl vinyl ether; vinyl pyridine; unsaturated acids, for example maleic acid, fumaric acid, methacrylic acid and their mono- or diesters with C1-C10 mono- or dialcohols; maleic anhydride, maleic acid imide as well as the N-substitution products of maleic acid imide with aromatic, cycloaliphatic and optionally branched aliphatic substituents; acrylonitrile and styrene. Such homopolymers and copolymers are commercially available from Borden Chemicals and Plastics and Shintech. They may also be prepared by any suitable polymerization method. Polymers prepared using a suspension process are preferred.
Graft copolymers of vinyl chloride are also suitable for use in the invention. For example, ethylene copolymers, such as ethylene vinyl acetate, and ethylene copolymer elastomers, such as EPDM (copolymers comprising copolymerized units of ethylene, propylene and dienes) and EPR (copolymers comprising copolymerized units of ethylene and propylene) that are grafted with vinyl chloride may be used as the vinyl chloride polymer component. A commercially available example of such a polymer is Vinnol(copyright) 500, available from Wacker Chemie GmbH.
The randomly chlorinated olefin polymer component of the compositions of the invention is selected from the group consisting of a) randomly chlorinated polyethylene homopolymers prepared from polyethylenes having a melt index from an I10 value of 0.1 to an I2 value of 10 and b) randomly chlorinated copolymers prepared from polyolefins having a melt index from an I10 value of 0.1 to an I2 value of 10 that contain copolymerized units of i) ethylene and ii) a copolymerizable monomer. The chlorinated olefin polymer may optionally include chlorosulfonyl groups. That is, the polymer chain will have pendant chlorine groups and chlorosulfonyl groups. Such polymers are known as chlorosulfonated olefin polymers.
Representative chlorinated olefin polymers include a) chlorinated and chlorosulfonated homopolymers of ethylene and b) chlorinated and chlorosulfonated copolymers of ethylene and at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer selected from the group consisting of C3-C10 alpha monoolefins; C1-C12 alkyl esters of C3-C20 monocarboxylic acids; unsaturated C3-C20 mono- or dicarboxylic acids; anhydrides of unsaturated C4-C8 dicarboxylic acids; and vinyl esters of saturated C2-C18 carboxylic acids. Chlorinated and chlorosulfonated graft copolymers are included as well. Specific examples of suitable polymers include chlorinated polyethylene; chlorosulfonated polyethylene; chlorinated ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers; chlorosulfonated ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers; chlorinated ethylene acrylic acid copolymers; chlorosulfonated ethylene acrylic acid copolymers; chlorinated ethylene methacrylic acid copolymers; chlorosulfonated ethylene methacrylic acid copolymers; chlorinated ethylene methyl acrylate copolymers; chlorinated ethylene methyl methacrylate copolymers; chlorinated ethylene n-butyl methacrylate copolymers; chlorinated ethylene glycidyl methacrylate copolymers; chlorinated graft copolymers of ethylene and maleic acid anhydride; chlorinated copolymers of ethylene with propylene, butene, 3-methyl-1-pentene, or octene and chlorosulfonated copolymers of ethylene with propylene, butene, 3-methyl-1-pentene or octene. The copolymers may be dipolymers, terpolymers, or higher order copolymers. Preferred chlorinated olefin polymers are chlorinated polyethylene and chlorinated copolymers of ethylene vinyl acetate.
The randomly chlorinated olefin polymers and chlorosulfonated olefin polymers suitable for use in the impact resistant compositions of the invention may be prepared from polyolefin resins that are branched or unbranched. The polyolefin base resins may be prepared by free radical processes, Ziegler-Natta catalysis or catalysis with metallocene catalyst systems, for example those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,236 and 5,278,272. Chlorination or chlorosulfonation of the base resins may take place in suspension, solution, solid state or fluidized bed. Free radical suspension chlorination processes are described and taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,454,544, 4,767,823 and references cited therein. Such processes involve preparation of an aqueous suspension of a finely divided ethylene polymer that is then chlorinated. An example of a free radical solution chlorination process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,621. The polymers may also be chlorinated in the melt or fluidized beds, for example as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,823. Chlorosulfonation processes are generally performed in solution but suspension and non-solvent processes are also known. Preparation of chlorosulfonated olefin polymers is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,586,363; 3,296,222; 3,299,014; and 5,242,987.
A particular feature of the chlorinated olefin polymers of the present invention is that they are randomly chlorinated along the polyolefin chain. The addition of chlorine randomly along the entire polymer chain disrupts the crystallinity, and therefore randomly chlorinated polyolefins have a lower residual crystallinity than blocky chlorinated polyolefins. The residual crystallinity of randomly chlorinated polyethylene having a chlorine content of 30-40% is less than 10 cal/g when measured by differential scanning calorimetry at between 40 and 150xc2x0 C. Similarly, the residual crystallinity is less than 15 cal/g for chlorine content of 20 to 30%.
Hydrocarbon rubbers such as ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers are copolymers of ethylene with at least one C3-C8 alpha-olefin (preferably an aliphatic alpha-olefin) comonomer, and optionally, a polyene comonomer, e.g., a conjugated diene, a nonconjugated diene, a triene, etc. Examples of the C3-C8 alpha-olefins include propene, 1-butene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, 1-hexene, and 1-octene. The alpha-olefin can also contain a cyclic structure such as cyclohexane or cyclopentane, resulting in an alpha-olefin such as 3-cyclohexyl-1-propene (allyl-cyclohexane) and vinyl-cyclohexane. Although not alpha-olefins in the classical sense of the term, for purposes of this invention certain cyclic olefins, such as norbornene and related olefins, are alpha-olefins and can be used in place of some or all of the alpha-olefins described above. Similarly, styrene and its related olefins (e.g., alpha-methylstyrene, etc.) are alpha-olefins for purposes of this invention.
Polyenes are unsaturated aliphatic or alicyclic compounds containing more than four carbon atoms in a molecular chain and having at least two double and/or triple bonds, e.g., conjugated and nonconjugated dienes and trienes. Examples of nonconjugated dienes include aliphatic dienes such as 1,4-pentadiene, 1,4-hexadiene, 1,5-hexadiene, 2-methyl-1,5-hexadiene, 1,6-heptadiene, 6-methyl-1,5-heptadiene, 1,6-octadiene, 1,7-octadiene, 7-methyl-1,6-octadiene, 1,13-tetradecadiene, 1,19-eicosadiene, and the like; cyclic dienes such as 1,4-cyclohexadiene, bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2,5-diene, 5-ethylidene-2-norbornene, 5-methylene-2-norbornene, 5-vinyl-2-norbornene, bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2,5-diene, 4-vinylcyclohex-l-ene, bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2,6-diene, 1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo-[2.2.1]hept-2,5-diene, dicyclopentadiene, methyltetrahydroindene, 5-allylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene, 1,5-cyclooctadiene, and the like; aromatic dienes such as 1,4-diallylbenzene, 4-allyl-1H-indene; and trienes such as 2,3-diisopropenylidiene-5-norbornene, 2-ethylidene-3-isopropylidene-5-norbornene, 2-propenyl-2,5-norbornadiene, 1,3,7-octatriene, 1,4,9-decatriene, and the like; with 5-ethylidene-2-norbornene, 5-vinyl-2-norbornene and 7-methyl-1,6-octadiene preferred nonconjugated dienes.
Examples of conjugated dienes include butadiene, isoprene, 2,3-dimethylbutadiene-1,3,1,2-dimethyibutadiene-1,3,1,4-dimethylbutadiene-1,3,1-ethylbutadiene-1,3,2-phenylbutadiene-1,3, hexadiene-1,3,4-methylpentadiene-1,3,1,3-pentadiene (CH3CHxe2x95x90CHxe2x80x94CHxe2x95x90CH2; commonly called piperylene), 3-methyl-1,3-pentadiene, 2,4-dimethyl-1,3-pentadiene, 3-ethyl-1,3-pentadiene, and the like; with 1,3-pentadiene a preferred conjugated diene.
Examples of trienes include 1,3,5-hexatriene, 2-methyl-1,3,5-hexatriene, 1,3,6-heptatriene, 1,3,6-cycloheptatriene, 5-methyl-1,3,6-heptatriene, 5-methyl-1,4,6-heptatriene, 1,3,5-octatriene, 1,3,7-octatriene, 1,5,7-octatriene, 1,4,6-octatriene, 5-methyl-1,5,7-octatriene, 6-methyl-1,5,7-octatriene, 7-methyl-1,5,7-octatriene, 1,4,9-decatriene and 1,5,9-cyclodecatriene.
Exemplary copolymers include ethylene/propylene, ethylene/butene, ethylene/1-octene, ethylene/5-ethylidene-2-norbornene, ethylene/5-vinyl-2-norbornene, ethylene/-1,7-octadiene, ethylene/7-methyl-1,6-octadiene, ethylene/styrene and ethylene/1,3,5-hexatriene. Exemplary terpolymers include ethylene/propylene/l-octene, ethylene/butene/l-octene, ethylene/propylene/5-ethylidene-2-norbornene, ethylene/butene/5-ethylidene-2-norbornene, ethylene/butene/styrene, ethylene/1-octene/5-ethylidene-2-norbornene, ethylene/propylene/1,3-pentadiene, ethylene/propylene/7-methyl-1,6-octadiene, ethylene/butene/7-methyl-1,6-octadiene, ethylene/1-octene/1,3-pentadiene and ethylene/propylene/1,3,5-hexatriene. Exemplary tetrapolymers include ethylene/propylene/l-octene/diene (e.g. ENB), ethylene/butene/l-octene/diene and ethylene/propylene/mixed dienes, e.g. ethylene/propylene/5-ethylidene-2-norbornene/piperylene. In addition, the blend components can include minor amounts, e.g. 0.05-0.5 percent by weight, of long chain branch enhancers, such as 2,5-norbornadiene (aka bicyclo[2,2,1]hepta-2,5-diene), diallylbenzene, 1,7-octadiene (H2Cxe2x95x90CH(CH2)4CHxe2x95x90CH2), and 1,9-decadiene (H2Cxe2x95x90CH(CH2)6CHxe2x95x90CH2).
The ethylene/alpha-olefin polymer components of this invention can be produced using any conventional ethylene/alpha-olefin polymerization technology known in the art. For example, polymerization of the ethylene/alpha-olefin polymer may be accomplished at conditions well known in the art for Ziegler-Natta or Kaminsky-Sinn type polymerization reactions. The ethylene/alpha-olefin polymer components of this invention may also be made using a mono- or bis-cyclopentadienyl, indenyl, or fluorenyl transition metal (preferably Group 4) catalysts or constrained geometry catalysts. Suspension, solution, slurry, gas phase, solid-state powder polymerization or other process conditions may be employed if desired. A support, such as silica, alumina, or a polymer (such as polytetrafluoroethylene or a polyolefin) may also be employed if desired.
Inert liquids serve as suitable solvents for polymerization. Examples include straight and branched-chain hydrocarbons such as isobutane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, and mixtures thereof; cyclic and alicyclic hydrocarbons such as cyclohexane, cycloheptane, methylcyclohexane, methylcycloheptane, and mixtures thereof; perfluorinated hydrocarbons such as perfluorinated C4-10 alkanes; and aromatic and alkyl-substituted aromatic compounds such as benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene. Suitable solvents also include liquid olefins that may act as monomers or comonomers including butadiene, cyclopentene, 1-hexene, 4-vinylcyclohexene, vinylcyclohexane, 3-methyl-1-pentene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, 1,4-hexadiene, 1-octene, 1-decene, styrene, divinylbenzene, allylbenzene, and vinyltoluene (including all isomers alone or in admixture). Mixtures of the foregoing are also suitable. If desired, normally gaseous olefins can be converted to liquids by application of pressure and used herein.
The impact resistant compositions of the invention will generally comprise 2-20 parts by weight of the impact modifying composition per hundred parts by weight of vinyl chloride polymer, preferably 4-10 parts by weight of the impact modifying composition per hundred parts by weight of vinyl chloride polymer. Preferably, the impact modifying composition contains from 50 to up to 100% hydrocarbon rubber.
The impact resistant compositions of the present invention are physical blends of polymers and do not require crosslinking or vulcanization in order to be useful as commercial products. Fillers are generally used in amounts of 2-50 parts per hundred parts vinyl chloride polymer. Preferably the impact resistant composition contains 5-35 parts per hundred of filler relative to the vinyl chloride polymer. Particularly useful fillers include silica, clay, titanium dixide, talc, calcium carbonate, and other mineral fillers. Calcium carbonate is preferred. The compositions can additionally contain other compounding ingredients such as stabilizers, blowing agents, lubricants, pigments, colorants, process aids, plasticizers, crosslinking agents and the like. The use of such additional components permits the compositions to be tailored for use in various applications, for example rigid PVC siding, pipe and profiles such as windows, fencing, decking and electrical conduit. Particularly useful compounding ingredients include tin, lead and calcium/zinc stabilizers, polymethylmethacrylate process aids, and hydrocarbon, ester, or amide waxes. If compounding ingredients are utilized, they are generally used in amounts of from 0.1-30 parts per hundred parts vinyl chloride resin, depending on the type of additive.
The impact resistant compositions of the present invention are particularly useful in the manufacture of PVC siding, profiles, and pipes.
The invention is further illustrated by the following embodiments wherein all parts are by weight unless otherwise indicated.